Saturday, December 5, 2015

A Girl's Best Friend

I thought I had posted about the newest addition to our family, but I must have only put it on Facebook. For almost 2 years, Anna has been working toward getting a puppy. She had to prove she was responsible and respectful by keeping her room clean and showing she could take care of a dog all on her own. She read every book, literally, our library has on dogs and puppies and how to care for them. She knows more about puppies than you and me, both! She knows every breed of dog there is...Grandpa can attest to that when they were at the Scottish festival this fall! Ha! She also had to save up $100 to put toward buying a puppy. It didn't take her long to save up the $100. She got $60 just for her birthday!! She was tempted many times to spend that money on other things, but she never spent a penny of it. Anna did her research and decided she wanted a Lab. Aaron & I were kind of holding out, hoping a friend of ours would be able to breed his Lab and we could get one of his puppies. That didn't work out, so we started looking online. Kind of on a whim one day, I ran across an ad online. There were no pictures, so I texted the number listed and she said there was only one left, a female. "I'll send you a picture...she's the cutest one of the litter!" Oh my stars, she wasn't kidding! Well, that pretty much sealed the deal! The middle of October, the puppy was ready to be picked up. For a few weeks before this, we had been keeping a puppy--puppysitting 24/7 basically (long story). Anna had been doing an amazing job training that puppy and taking care of it. I had no doubt she would do even better with her own puppy. The boys stayed with some friends while we drove to Colby to pick up the new puppy. Anna was in love from the moment we stepped out of the car!

Meet Sadie!!!

She kept saying, "I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe I really have my own puppy! I didn't think this day would ever come!!"

She didn't last long in the box! :)

Still more information for Anna to read about puppies and their care.

Because Jacob & I are both allergic to dogs (and I can't handle dog hair in my house), Sadie will be an outside dog. We converted the little red playhouse into a dog castle ;) and Sadie is quite snug and warm in there! Best of all, there's plenty of room for Anna to go in there with her when it's too cold to just be outside.

Sadie is going to be a huge dog. Her paws are gigantic! But she has the sweetest temperament. So laid back and not much of the dreaded puppy behavior I was expecting. I think part of that is her genes (her parents were super friendly, chill dogs), and part of it is the time and effort and love Anna puts into that dog. Anna discovered that Sadie LOVES the trampoline!! After the ice storm we got a couple weeks ago, she put Sadie up there and then would stand on the ground and kick the ice loose from underneath...Sadie had a blast jumping after the ice chunks!! Now they just get up there and play.

Growing up way too quickly.

I had to laugh at this shot...Anna was trying to get Sadie to look at the camera, but it looks like she's choking her! Haha!

As I took these pictures, I thought to myself, "Only 8 more years and I'll be taking her senior pictures with Sadie!" EEEKKK!!!! The days are long, but the years are short...

Sadie was quite intrigued with what that clicking noise was when I was snapping all the pictures!

So, we are now a dog family ;) and Anna is doing a fantastic job with her dog! Sadie is just over 3 months old and she doesn't jump up or chase the kids...she is such a good puppy and that's thanks to Anna's diligence in training her! So proud of Anna!!

My Kids

About Me

First I am a daughter of the King of kings! Wife to a wonderful man and mama to four adorable kids--Anna, Jacob, Isaac, and Grace! Raising them is my job. God has been pulling me out my comfort zone with homeschooling and cloth diapering, as well as trying much harder to live an over-all healthier lifestyle. Now I'm one of *those* moms! :)